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Build a computer help!

I am making a custom computer. The motherboard I purchased is ASUS P5G41-M LE/CSM
I bought one stick of DDR2 1GB & one stick of DDR2 2GB. I have a Seagate 160 GB hard drive. Video card 512 MB EAH 4350 SILENT. Basic Optical drive and a Intel Pentium Processor E5400 OR LGA 775. I went ahead and assembled the computer.
First thing I did was install basically everything to the motherboard first. Then I used the motherboard push pins to mount the motherboard then I screwed it to the chassis.
I hooked up everything correctly or so I thought. I think I need help with the power supply wiring it to the system, optical drives etc… For example, I have a black IDE cable one end inserted into the motherboard and now the back of the Seagate Hard drive does not have a IDE cable connector. Also, I installed the process or without using any of this Freeze thermal glue (I wasn’t sure if it was necessary) if so, let me know. I turned on the system and I seen ASUS splash screen then it gave an error and said the system will shutdown in 15 seconds. I tried to write down the error code but know I cannot even get an image on the screen. All help is greatly appreciated. Later, ps; if you need pictures just let me know.

I am moving this thread to "Hardware" as that is where we usually put computer build and computer components items. You will possibly get a better response from our hardware gurus with it here.

EDIT:

OK that's done, now to the subject.

1. Shutdown.

This is most likely because the processor is overheating and the system is shutting down to protect it. You MUST use thermal paste if your heatsink does not have a thermal pad. If it does have a thermal pad, please remember to peel off the protective plastic sheet before installing it.

2. Power Supply

This should not be a problem. There is one long plug that plugs into the motherboard. There is only one slot that it fits and one way to insert it.

Now, you are building Intel, and I haven't done that for nearly 10 years, but there may be another uniquely shaped plug coming out of the PSU which has a matching socket on the MoBo? I think that this powers the CPU. The other connectors are 4 pin Molex, which have a unique shape so you cannot fit them incorrectly without a large hammer

These power your optical drives and hard drives.

There may also be one or two small, flat, white 4-pin connectors? these are to power your 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives.

As you are getting it to shut down on you, I guess you must have gotten the PSU connections right? There may be one or two apparently "spare" plugs coming out of the PSU................. not sure, but they may be for RAID and/or SCSI controllers? Just cable tie them out of the way.

3. Hard Drive

I have a black IDE cable one end inserted into the motherboard and now the back of the Seagate Hard drive does not have a IDE cable connector.

That is because it is a SATA drive not PATA (IDE) The motherboard had better support SATA, or you will need another drive! I think it will, as PATA are becoming rarer and rarer these days. I have laid in my stockpile

All the SATA connectors I have seen are black. The data link has two wires (transparent red sleeving) and the power has the traditional red, black, black, yellow wires.

The connectors to the HDD and Mobo are "L" shaped and have an idiot proof configuration like this: &#172;

The data plug is 0.5" and the power one 9/10ths of an inch...... so you would need a very big hammer....... You should find something on the MoBo and from the PSU to match

Chill out man; unless you have a better set of hammers than me, you cannot get it wrong

Let us know if you have any more problems. And tell me the model number of the Seagate drive...... I just picked up a "strategic reserve" of two 160GB barracudas (IDE/PATA).............shame we live so far apart, or I would have swapped you one.

Cheers, and have a good weekend!

Last edited by nihil; October 30th, 2010 at 03:44 AM.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

The power supply already came installed into the case. I have wires that says: PLED (+) PLED (-) RESET BLUE AND WHITE CABLE, and about 4 other cables that come from the case it's self (power button) also when I push the power button in the computer will not shut off. I have to flip the little switch in the back to turn it off. However, now I cannot even get any screen to come up. Maybe if I took pictures of the wires maybe it would help. Thanks gor the replies guys. PS; I will have to double check on the processor since I didn't use any thermal paste. Also, from the back of the cdrom drive it has a SATA connection but on the motherboard there is a place for like for of them. I have the main hdd in the first one and the optical drive in sata 2

The power supply already came installed into the case. I have wires that says: PLED (+) PLED (-) RESET BLUE AND WHITE CABLE, and about 4 other cables that come from the case it's self (power button)

Open the motherboard booklet and it should have a diagram that will tell you were each wire goes into & which way they face.

Originally Posted by Computernerd22

also when I push the power button in the computer will not shut off. I have to flip the little switch in the back to turn it off. However, now I cannot even get any screen to come up. Maybe if I took pictures of the wires maybe it would help. Thanks gor the replies guys. PS; I will have to double check on the processor since I didn't use any thermal paste.

Remove the heatsink covering the CPU and apply a small amount of thermal paste then re-apply the heatsink.

Originally Posted by Computernerd22

Also, from the back of the cdrom drive it has a SATA connection but on the motherboard there is a place for like for of them. I have the main hdd in the first one and the optical drive in sata 2

There are 4 sata ports on the motherboard? Connect the devices, then open up the BIOS and change the boot order and detection to suit as needed, the mother board booklet will have clearer info.

The power button issue will resolve once you have connected the little wires onto the correct pin, you obviously have them connected onto the wrong pins.

The first two operate the lights (LEDs) for the main power switch which should glow one colour for standby and another for power on.

The "reset" operates the smaller reset button on the front of the box. This is sometimes called the "hot reboot" or "restart" button. In the Windows shutdown menu, these are the equivalent of the red and green buttons, although these are physically controlling the power supply rather than programatically controlling the OS.

Go into your BIOS and look at the power management options. Disable all the crap relating to "snooze", "standby", "hibernate" or whatever.......it will only bring you grief in the long run, and on a desktop machine is about as useful as **** on a boar I think that we are all old enough to know how to switch a computer off when we are not using it?

You may also find options for what happens when you press the main power button (set this to on/off, "turn the machine off" or whatever they call it) The other button should be set to "restart"

Now all you have to do is get the little connectors attached to the right pins on the MoBo, and THE RIGHT WAY ROUND! If something isn't working, try it facing the other way.....in my experience they will all have the writing facing the same way, depending on the particular MoBo.

I have the main hdd in the first one and the optical drive in sata 2

Try it in #3 or #4

Does your floptical drive only have a SATA connection?

To get power to the HDD from the PSU, you may need MOLEX to SATA connection cable. Over here these cost £0.70, they will be cheaper in the USA.

CPU:

The heatsink should have come with a cardboard or thick paper template which you align to the heatsink base and apply the paste in an even, thin, coating. Otherwise just coat all of it

Apply about as much as 0.5 of a grain of shortgrain rice (stuff you make puddings with) evenly to the top of the processor(s) chips which should stand up slightly from the body of the processor unit. Then reassemble and you should be good to go.

REMEMBER you can have too much thermal paste as well as too little!

Make sure the CPU fan is spinning...........it usually is a 3 or 4 pin connection on the MoBo. I think you have gotten this right already, as your system seems to be shutting down due to processor overheating?

Yes if you are sill having problems, some pictures might be useful.

Good Luck!

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

I just applied this thermal paste compound called Freeze. I placed it on the back of the process or that already looked like it had an area for it. Anyways, the cables that are connected to the Power Button on the front of the computer I have; These are the cables running from the case.

I think this might be where my issue is. However, the fans run very quietly and good the system powers right on I insert the P5G41M Series disk and nothing sitting at a black sreen but the system powers on but will not shut off unless you it the switch in the back.

This will be a great system once I can get it up and working. I read the ASUS motherboard manual so #1 for knowledge # 2 knowing how to do it. I am just having an issue with the ASUS motherboard book explaining the how the connections go the chassis that powers on the system other tha that this system is hooked up correctly. All help is greatly appreciated and thank you guys for the replies.

PS; I can not get any image to display on my screen. I had the ASUS screen come up once and the error message saying the system will shutdown in 15 seconds (this was before I APLLIED THE THERMAL PASTE) but now I can not even get into any screen. I used the VGA cable to the back of the motherboard I also used the vga cable connector to the back of the video card and still no image, I know the monitor works because I can hook up my Dell and it pops right up.

This is the little light that flickers when the HDD is sending/receiving data

2. & 3. These operate your power status lights

The other two operate the actual switching on/off of main power and the Reset button. You must have these connected to the correct pins on the MoBo and the right way round

If you have checked that they are attached to the correct pins, try reversing the connector so the writing faces the other way.

PS; I can not get any image to display on my screen. I had the ASUS screen come up once and the error message saying the system will shutdown in 15 seconds (this was before I APPLIED THE THERMAL PASTE) but now I can not even get into any screen. I used the VGA cable to the back of the motherboard I also used the vga cable connector to the back of the video card and still no image, I know the monitor works because I can hook up my Dell and it pops right up.

Go into BIOS setup and see if onboard VGA is selected/enabled. Try setting it to the alternative or disabling it, depending on how your BIOS handles it, then try connecting via the video card.

I have known cases where if you have both a card and an onboard chipset, nothing will work unless you disable or deselect the onboard chipset, or uninstall the video card.

If that doesn't work, try physically removing the videocard and enabling onboard VGA, then try that connection.

Please let us know how you get on.

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?

When you have problems like this there is only one thing to do ...
Start from scratch!
Disconnect everything and start over. And I mean everything!

When adding or changing anything, unplug the computer!

Check your motherboard mounting. Most cases will have little stamped labels on the post holes for the type motherboard you are using. Make sure you ONLY use the ones labeled for your motherboard type. Having extra posts under the board could fry it. Since you said you used pushpins, they should be only in holes on the board OTHER then the six screw holes listed in the manual. Use screws in these holes for proper grounding, but do not over tighten.

Find the CLRTC jumper on the motherboard. Clear the CMOS by moving the jumper, then replace.
( page 1-22 of the manual? )

Hopefully you did not fry the chip.
Was this a boxed set of processor/ heat sink fan? If so, the fan probably had paste on it already.
( when you took it apart to put that freeze stuff on it, did it have something that looked like label glue on it? That would probably be the factory paste. If it did, did you remove it all before putting on the freeze stuff? Rubbing alcohol works well for removing it.)
If it was perfectly clean you may have fried the chip.
Remember when putting on this paste, a very thin layer is all you need ... do not put too much on!

Be careful installing the heat sink/fan. It must be seated properly. Your motherboard manual shows you how to tighten it down properly. Do not proceed until you are sure it is level and properly seated. Make sure you plug the fan into the correct motherboard cpu/fan pins. Use the diagram in the motherboard manual.

Plug in one memory module ( maybe the 1 gig ) into the memory slot closest to the cpu.
Did you check the Qualified Vendor list to make sure it was compatible? ( a list is in your MB manual )

Plug in the 24 pin EATXPWR and the 4 pin ATX 12v plugs into the board. ( This board requires a minimum 400 watt power supply ... does it meet that? )

Did the case come with an on-board speaker built into the case? If so, find and connect it now. This will help you hear beep codes if it has any.

Again, use the diagram in MB manual to find location. ( possibly page 1-30 )
Verify the location on motherboard ( I use magnifying glass to see these ) Sometimes the pin layout in the manual is a little different then on the board.

Do not plug anything else in. You should have no add-in cards, video or otherwise connected to anything. No hard drives, nothing else.

Hook up a keyboard and monitor ( use on-board video )

Connect plug to power supply and turn on, see what happens. Make sure the LED on motherboard lights, and count any beeps you hear ( if you have case speaker. )

Let us know what happens.
.

" And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be" --Miguel Cervantes

the six screw holes listed in the manual. Use screws in these holes for proper grounding, but do not over tighten.

You wouldn't happen to have some small orange washers left over from the assembly would you?

Find the CLRTC jumper on the motherboard. Clear the CMOS by moving the jumper, then replace.
( page 1-22 of the manual? )

Good idea, particularly as you got a MoBo warning to begin with .............. it may need resetting?

Was this a boxed set of processor/ heat sink fan? If so, the fan probably had paste on it already.

That is what I described earlier as a thermal pad/patch. With one of those you should not need thermal paste, but YOU DO HAVE TO REMOVE THE PROTECTIVE LAYER FIRST!!!

Did the case come with an on-board speaker built into the case? If so, find and connect it now. This will help you hear beep codes if it has any.

Otherwise attach a couple of PC speakers via the pale green jack-plug socket and turn them on before booting ............. they will give you the BIOS beep codes where there is no case or onboard speaker.

Plug in one memory module ( maybe the 1 gig ) into the memory slot closest to the cpu.

In the old days we always put the largest closest?

If you have set up a speaker of whatever sort, you will get multiple beeps if it is a memory problem.

Good Luck!

If you cannot do someone any good: don't do them any harm....
As long as you did this to one of these, the least of my little ones............you did it unto Me.
What profiteth a man if he gains the entire World at the expense of his immortal soul?